Mike:


The Korean contract is better through CCL or Parc. There is another U.S. company that some guys go through, but I can't remember the name right now. CCL are a really good agency and have high marks from the guys who are with them. Parc are generally good as well. You'll find that Rishworth have a pretty poor reputation. E-mail [email protected] and ask them all the questions you have. They will reply with a full brief on the contract.

The issues you talked about with KAL were back in the 90s. The new issues are that there seems to be a Korean pilot/Korean management battle going on and the expat pilots are caught in the middle. The practical upshot is that the Korean pilots threaten to strike so Korean management hire foreigners to mitigate any possible strike. The Korean pilots then fail the foreign pilots in training. This seems to be the worst on the B777 fleet.

When you talk to pilots at Korean you must differentiate what they say based on the fleet they are on. The QOL on each fleet is vastly different. The best fleet is probably the A330. The B777 boys work hard with multiple Trans-Pacs every month.

Training for the B777 fleet has been an issue lately with many failures. This after one has gone out and bought a type rating with their own money. Some of the failures may have been justified, but it's likely that a good number were not. The quote from a friend of mine currently in line training is, "if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have come". This primarily in relation to the training environment and risk of failure for no good reason.

When flying for Korean be prepared to be alone. As the only foreigner in the crew one often finds themselves alone on overnights. A very good friend of mine has worked there for 9 years and this is his sentiment. He is a very outgoing and fun person, but the Korean crew must follow the lead of the Purser and often do not go out with the foreign captains. This is less true with the Korean F.O.s, but still happens.



Typhoonpilot